Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with aerobic

Breathe your oxygen Junior - it'll make you grown up big and strong...

twine42 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:27:33 -0800

All the big organisms on the planet need a healthy supply or oxygen, yet there are a myriad organisms at the other end of the scale that either ignore oxygen or are actively averse to it. How come none of our large scale creatures have come from this anaerobic stock? [ Obviously, the ones that find oxygen poisonous would find life in the open ocean or on dry land rather tricky. But why did the oxygen suckers manage to make it to a larger scale when those that didn't give a damn about oxygen stayed on the microscopic scales? ]

Tips for running?

mintchip — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:25:33 -0800

Tips for running? I run (interspersed with some walking) 3-5 miles about 4-5x/week.

1. Other than getting good shoes, what do I need to do to protect my knees? Is getting knee and joint problems from running inevitable?

2. How bad is it to run on a decline? In the area I live it's really difficult to avoid running downhill.

3. Even though I'm quite fit I seem to be really slow about building up aerobic endurance. Is there something I can do to speed this up? I get out of breath after maybe 1/2 half mile and then walk for a bit and start running again. How long before I should be able to go the whole distance without stopping?

Any other jogging/running tips are welcome.

How often and how hard do I have to work out to maintain my current fitness level?

slenderloris — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:00:48 -0800

How often and how hard do I need to work out in order to maintain the level of aerobic fitness I have right now? For about a year now, I've been working out for an hour (40 minutes of cardio plus 20 of strength training) about 4 times a week. During the last 6 weeks of 2007, I really stepped it up---about 8 hours a week instead of 4. I definitely noticed improvements just over those 6 weeks---by Dec. 31, the cardio was easier, I was able to finish all the strength sets using 8 lb. weights instead of 6 lb. ones, and I noticed increased muscle definition, especially in my arms and calves.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can really keep up that pace over the long term. It really took up a lot of my free time. For now, I'd like to hang on to the benefits I gained, but not spend so much time working out. What is the minimum I can do to maintain my existing level of fitness for a while until I feel ready to do another hardcore stint?

Upper body aerobics?

Evangeline — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:01:19 -0800

I tore a ligament in my ankle last night, and it looks like I'll be in a cast for at least three weeks. I hate to skip the gym for three weeks (I've been slacking off enough as it is, and I'm trying to lose weight). Are there any aerobic exercises that don't involve your legs and don't require special equipment? Something other than just throwing punches in the air? Thanks.

Criticize my workout

long haired lover from liverpool — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 07:14:40 -0800

Criticize my gym regime! 230lb, 34 years old, 5ft 11in, male. I've recently started going to the gym three/four times a week to get fit and lose weight. I'm reasonably experienced at gym work, having been an on/off member of gyms throughout my adult life.

The machines have built-in heart-rate monitors and I'm aiming to keep to 150-160bpm. I use the HRM as a guide to what settings I use. If my heart rate drops I crank up the resistance of the machine.

My current regime is:

10 mins on cross-country skiing machine
10 mins fast walking on elevated treadmill
10 mins recumbent cycling
10 mins step/thighmaster-style machine
10 more mins on cross-country skiing machine

That's 50 minutes and it's as much time as I can spare.

Is there any room for improvement? The only other aerobic machine in the gym is the rower and I hate it.

What's different about this plan compared to previous plans I've had is that I don't really lose my breath. I sweat a lot. But I don't walk out feeling particularly tired. Previously at the gym I've always pushed myself hard and practically staggered away.

How will I ever get my fitness back after two years of major respiratory problems?

soulbarn — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:23:07 -0800

Can I rebuild my lung capacity? And how? In the past two years, I have gone from being a high-level aerobic athlete - one to three hours daily of bike riding or running - to doing almost nothing. The reason? Respiratory problems. It started with asthma, went on to sinus infections, then two cases of pneumonia. I've had two sinus surgeries in the past six months. The good news is I am feeling better. The bad news is that my wind is shot... ...when I do any cardio - even just a thirty minute walk - I get quite short of breath. Even worse, I feel sick for three or four days afterwards (super congested, tired.) I have been trying to keep fit during this period; I'm doing yoga for about an hour a day, four or five days a week, and other than not being able to take a deep breath, I'm handling it OK.

My questions: is this to be expected? Have I likely done permanent damage? Can I recover? How long will this go on? What can I do, over that period of time, to build my capacities back?

BTW, I am a 45-year-old male; my weight is pretty much the same as it was prior to all this.

How do I regulate my exercise?

JZig — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 19:26:52 -0800

I'm working on improving my exercise habits, and I need some help on regulating them. How do I maintain useful aerobic exercise without going too light or too heavy? My body and my mind are fighting against me. A bit on my exercise/health history: I have mild asthma, balance problems, and had childhood depression. I hated exercise until I tried out martial arts, which improved my strength and confidence, but not really my cardio. I don't know how to exercise aerobically, and try to use burst-strength to overcome any physical obstacle. Various exercise plans have failed over the last 10 years because of this. I would inevitably start out enthusiastic, but then overwork myself and either get discouraged or injured.

Most recently, I've been trying a combination of outdoor biking and inside cardio-kickboxing, which I enjoy. This was working well last year until I got overconfident and went on a strenuous, 2 hour bike ride. I came back feeling like I was going to die, and didn't exercise for a week, killing my routine. I tried again this year. Two weeks ago and last week, I was able to keep a consistent aerobic pace during my biking, and came back feeling tired but healthy. Then, just a few hours ago, I went out for a ride. Something distracted me, and I dropped out of my pace in to slow, heavy pedaling. Before I noticed it, I had gotten out of breath and wasn't able to regain any sort of regular pace. I came back slightly dizzy and completely exhausted, and collapsed on the couch. I feel like crap now, and don't really want to do it again.

Anyone have any tips for how to find, and keep, a aerobic, moderate pace while exercising? My body and mind keep trying to shift to anaerobic, burst-driven exercise, and it takes constant focus to keep from doing that. If I DO lose control and start to over-exert myself, I can never get back. If I keep going and try to get back under control, I can never seem to regain my focus. If I stop for a bit to catch my breath, my body goes in to post-exercise crash and I can't get started again. If anyone has had difficulties with this kind of thing, I appreciate any advice you might have. I'm not really asking about specific exercises, and I'm not really looking for advice from people for which this comes naturally, although it may still be helpful.

How can an extremely obese and underconditioned man begin exercising?

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 08:27:08 -0800

Is walking at your normal walking rate, but increasing the distance you walk, sufficient enough to be considered exercise? Can anyone recommend exercises for people who are very underconditioned and extremely obese, but not in poor cardiac health? And, finally, is there a medical professional who is the equivalent of a gym's personal trainer? (More inside.) I'm an extremely obese man; my weight now borders on 350 pounds. I do understand that this is an unhealthy situation for me, and as both a longstanding project and a New Year's resolution, I am trying to get myself down to a manageable weight. (I am posting this anonymously because I don't wish to acknowledge the extent of my obesity or my underconditioning publicly, where it could be Googled, and I also discuss a bit of my medical history below.)

Weight loss, at its most essential element, is burning more calories than you take in; for a long time, I have only attacked that problem from the perspective of reducing intake, instead of adding exercise to my routine. I wish to do the latter now. The problem is that thanks to my weight, exercise is extremely difficult. Even walking up one flight of stairs is enough to take the wind out of my sails. I tried swimming, as I heard that this was a kinder exercise process to obese people, but found it to be extremely difficult as well. When I say "difficult," please know I am aware that exercise is not supposed to be an easy process, but at the same time, you obviously need to be able to sustain a level of exercise for a period of time in order for it to be any good. I cannot walk stairs continuously, and I don't think I can swim continuously, either.

My thoughts about how I might best improve the situation is by increasing the amount of walking I do per day: I have already been walking approximately 0.5 miles each way to and from work, which means I'm walking a mile already. My thought was that by getting off at earlier stops on the subway, I could increase the amount of distance I walk each day. However, if my memory serves me correctly, exercise isn't "exercise" unless you are not able to sing, but still can talk, when you are exercising. I'm concerned that merely increasing the distance I walk will not be sufficient to be "exercise," and yet I'm not sure where to go from here in terms of getting myself from an underconditioned, extremely unhealthy situation to one where I can begin exercising routinely. Would it be sufficient to just start walking longer distances at a normal rate, and then eventually segue into walking those distances more quickly?

As a side note, my heart, as far as I know, is fine. I conducted both a stress test and an echocardiogram in the fall of 2006, and both indicated that there were no blockages in my heart or reasons to be concerned about it. I'm 32 years old, and that works in my favor.

So, to boil down this post to its basics: is walking at your normal walking rate, but increasing the distance you walk, sufficient enough to be considered exercise? Can anyone recommend exercises for people who are very underconditioned and extremely obese, but not in poor cardiac health?

And, finally, is there a medical professional who is the equivalent of a gym's personal trainer? I'm entirely unwilling to shell out mercenary rates to a personal trainer, nor has any personal trainer I've ever interacted with been interested in doing anything more for me than trying to sell me on an extended lesson plan; that having been said, I would like to turn to a medical professional to assist me in designing a workout that could assist me in getting back in better shape. I, however, have no idea what field that professional would be in.